Dispensing closure with initial breakable disc seal

ABSTRACT

A severable plug seal is disclosed for use in dispensing closures having a closure body including a dispensing opening leading therethrough and having a spout rotatably mounted on the body so as to be capable of being rotated from an initial closed position in which a passage in the spout is not aligned with the dispensing opening to an open position in which the passage of the spout is aligned with the dispensing opening. In a closure as disclosed, a plug is located within the dispensing opening adjacent to the spout and means are provided on the spout for engaging the plug during the initial movement of the spout from an initial closed position to an open position so as to force the plug from the dispensing opening so that fluid can flow through the dispensing opening and the passage in the spout. The plug may be formed integrally with the closure body.

United States Patent Hazard DISPENSING CLOSURE WITH INITIAL BREAKABLEDISC SEAL Nov. 27, 1973 Primary ExaminerSamuel F. Coleman AssistantExaminerNorman L. Stack, Jr. Attorney-Edward D. OBrian [5 7 ABSTRACT Aseverable plug seal is disclosed for use in dispensing A closures havinga closure body including a dispensing opening leading therethrough andhaving a spout rotatably mounted on the body so as to be capable ofbeing rotated from an initial closed position in which a passage in thespout is not aligned with the dispensing opening to an open position inwhich the passage of the spout is aligned with the dispensing opening.ln a closure as disclosed, a plug is located within the dispensingopening adjacent to the spout and means are provided on the spout forengaging the plug during the initial movement of the spout from aninitial closed position to an open position so as to force the plug fromthe dispensing opening so that fluid can flow through the dispensingopening and the passage in the spout. The plug may be formed integrallywith the closure body.

11 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures DISPENSING CLOSURE WITH INITIAL BREAKABLEDISC SEAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As used herein the term dispensingclosure is intended to designate closures having a closure body formedso as to include a dispensing opening leading between the sides of thebody and having a spout rotatably mounted on the body so as to becapable of being rotated between a closed position in which a passage ofthe spout is unaligned with the dispensing opening and an open positionin which this passage in the spout is aligned with this opening. Suchclosures are normally constructed so that they can be utilizedessentially as bottle caps on existing containers. They may also beconstructed so the the closure bodies in them are integral with theappropriate, somewhat resilient material such as various grades ofcommon polyolefins by conventional injection molding techniques at acomparatively nominal cost. Structures of various closures of this typeare shown in the U.S. Wilson et al Pat. No. 2,793,795; the U.S. MartPat. No. 2,828,895 and other patents.

One of the problems which has been encountered in the field of this typeof dispensing closures is the-problem of leakage prior to the use ofsuch closures. In the past this problem has been combatted by formingthe closure body of such a closure with an appropriate sealing meanswhich will fit up against the base of the spout in such a manner as toform an effective seal against the spout in all positions of the spoutboth before and after usage of the closure. In other words, in the pastthe problem of leakage prior to use has been combattedby utilizing aseal type structure which is just as effective before the use of thestructure as after the use of'the closure. A very effective sealstructure of this type is shown and claimed in the copending Akersapplication Ser. No. 715,930 filed Mar. 25, 1968 entitled SealingStructures." The invention set forth in this document is assigned to theassignee of this Akers application.

For practically all applications, it is considered that it issatisfactory to use a single sealing means which is operative before aswell as after the initial use of a dispensing closure of the typeindicated. However, on occasion, especially with certain varioushard-to-seal materials and/or extremely volatile materials, this singleseal type of approach to the problem of initial leakage prior to use isnot considered adequate. It is believed that this can be illustrated byreferring to a specific type of use.

When a dispensing closure of the type indicated is used so as to seal acontainer containing a highly volatile fluid and such a container fluidis significantly heated, the tendency towards vaporization of the fluidwithin a container will build up significant pressures within acontainer. Common seals are pressure responsive. That is, for example,frequently a valve will adequately seal at one pressure but will notseal at a higher pressure. This type of thing is considered to manifestitself in dispensing closures. It is considered to affect the seals usedin such closures detrimentally when, because of various factors, thepressures exerted on such closures are significantly increased.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An objective of the present invention isto provide new and improved dispensing closures having effective initialsealing structures which are separate and apart from the sealingstructures normally used in such closures. A further objective of thisinvention is to provide initial seals in such dispensing closures whichare relatively ineffective by an increase in pressure within theinterior of a container. Further objectives of this invention are toprovide dispensing closures incorporating sealing means as hereinindicated which are effective, which may be easily and convenientlyused, and which may be easily and conveniently manufactured at acomparatively nominal cost.

In accordance with this invention these and other related objectives areachieved by providing dispensing closures each of which has a closurebody including a dispensing opening leading from one side of the bodytothe other side of the body and has a spout including a base overlyingsaid opening and a passage extending from the base through the spout. Insuch a closure such a spout is supplied in an initial closed position inwhich the passage is unaligned with the dispensing opening and iscapable of being rotated to an open position in which the passage isaligned with the opening. In such a closure in accordance with thisinvention the improvement comprises a disc located within the openingbody used should include a flexible, deformable sealing means locatedaround the dispensing opening so as to engage the base of the spout whenthe spout is in open and closed positions. Also preferably the plugutilized should be formed integrally with the closure body so as to'beconnected to it by a comparatively thin, frangible, annular membrane ordiaphragm. Such a membrane is intended to be broken by force applied toit by the means for engaging the plug when the spout is initiallyrotated from a closed to an open position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Further details of this invention, aswell as the manners in which the invention achieves the aforegoing andrelated objectives, will be apparent from a detailed consideration ofthe accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a presently preferred embodiment of adispensing closure of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. '4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at line "4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at line 5-5 of FIG. 2',

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at line 6--6 of FIG. 2;and

'FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view corresponding -to FIG. 2,illustrating a spout shown in the preceding figures in an open position.

From a consideration of the drawing and of the remainder of thisspecification, it will be apparent that the basic features set forth inthe appended claims may be embodied throug the use or exercise ofroutine engineering skill within dispensing closures constructedsomewhat differently than the precise preferred embodiment of adispensing closure of this invention illustrated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawing there isshown a dispensing closure constructed so as to utilize the presentinvention. The principal parts of this closure are as indicated in theWilson et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,793,795. It includes an integrally formedpolyethylene or related closure body 12 having a flat top 14 and anattached, internally threaded skirt 16. Within the interior of the skirt16 an appropriate sealing means 18 adapted to form a seal with the topand/or interior of the neck of the container is located. This top 14includes a centrally located cavity 20 on opposite sides of which thereare located bearing openings 22 having restricted entrances 24. A slot26 extends from the cavity 20 across the top 14 to the edge of this top14.

The closure 10 also includes an integrally formed spout or spout member28 having a base 30 fitting within the cavity 20. This base 30 carrieswhat may be regarded as a spout extremity 32 which is adapted to fitwithin the slot 26 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing when thespout member 28 is in a closed position. The base 30 carries alignedtrunnions 34 which fit within the bearing openings 22 so that the entirespout member 28 is rotatably mounted on the closure body 12. When thespout member 28 is in place, the base 30 normally resiliently engages aflexible sealing ring 36 located within the body of the cavity 20surrounding a dispensing opening 38 in the closure body 12. Thisdispensing opening 38 in effect leads through the closure body 12 fromwithin the interior of it to within the interior of the cavity 20.

The various features of the dispensing closure 10 described in thepreceding portions of this detailed description may be regarded as knownprior to the present invention. Closures having the various partsindicated are commonly manufactured by high-speed injection moldingtechniques out of various polyolefins such as polyethylene. Theconstruction of these closures may be varied to a considerable extent.Thus, foe example, while the dispensing closure 10 utilizes trunnions 34which can be snapped into the bearing openings 22, it is possible toconstruct a dispensing closure utilizing the principles of thisinvention in which the base 30 of a spout member 28 is rotatably held inan operative position by contact with the walls of a cavitycorresponding to the cavity 20 instead of through the use of bearingsand bearing openings. Similarly different types of sealing ringscorresponding to the sealing ring 36 may be used. This particularsealing ring 36 illustrated is preferably constructed as indicated inthe aforenoted Akers U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 715,930.

In accordance with this invention, the dispensing opening 38 ispreferably provided with a conicallyshaped wall 40 which leads from adisc 42. This disc 42 is preferably has an outer conical wall 44, thelargest dimension of which substantially corresponds to the smallestdimension of the wall 40 of the dispensing opening 38. The largestdimension of this wall 44 is preferably attached to the wall 40 by athin, annular frangible membrane or diaphragm 46 capable of being easilybroken. The disc 42 also preferably includes a flat top surface 48 forpurposes hereinafter described. With this preferred structure the disc42 and the diaphragm 46 may be conveniently manufactured simultaneouslywith the remainder of the closure body 12.

From the preceding it will be apparent that in the preferred embodimentillustrated the disc 42 is in effect a part of the closure body 12. As aresult of this there is no seal initially formed with this structurebetween two interior parts as such. However, the disc 42 in effect matesagainst the wall 40 so as to form a seal even though physically thestructure is somewhat different from a stopper in a bottle neck. Ifdesired the disc may be segregated from the closure body 12 and may fitthe wall 40 in the same manner in which a stopper fits a bottle neck.This is not normally desired because of assembly problems and the factthat a surface-to-surface seal is not as satisfactory as a continuousinternal seal.

With the present invention the base 30 of the spout member 28 ispreferably provided with a flat surface 50 which will lie flat oppositeand adjacent to the surface 48 of the plug 42 when the spout member 28is assembled upon the closure body 12 in an initial position asindicated in FIG. 2. In such an initial position the spout member 28 maybe regarded as being in a closed position inasmuch as a passage 52within it leading from the base 30 through the spout extension 32 isunaligned with the dispensing opening 38. Such an initial position ofthe spout member 28 differs from a normal closed position of the spoutmember 28 only in that in such an initial position the spout member 28has not been previously rotated with respect to the closure body 12.

During the initial use of the dispensing closure 10 the spout member 28is rotated counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG. 2 to aposition as indicated in FIG. 7. As this occurs a small cam-likeprojection 54 on the base 30 of the spout member 28 will move over aportion of the sealing ring 36, causing some temporary flexure of thissealing ring 36 and then will move against the flat surface 48 of theplug 42. Such contact of the projection 54 against the surface 48 willresult in pressure against the annular membrane or diaphragm 48, causingthe plug 42 to be broken from the remainder of the closure body 12. Asthis occurs, normally the plug 42 will fall downwardly from the closurebody 12 where it will not cause any further difficulty. On occasion,however, the plug 42 will be sufficiently broken so as to hang downloosely, held in place by a small unruptured portion of the diaphragm46. In either event the plug 42 will be sufficiently removed from anoperative location so that fluid can progress through the dispensingopening 38 and the spout member 28.

An important feature of the present invention lies in the fact that theexterior of the base 30, including the projection 54, is formed so as tobe of a smooth, continuous character. As a result of this, the sealingring 36 when properly dimensioned will always fit against the exteriorof the base 30 in a resilient manner so as to form an adequate sealagainst leakage during the use of the dispensing closure 10. Such a sealis particularly important when, after being initially used, the spoutmember 28 is rotated back to a closed position such as is indicated inFIG. 2 of the drawing.

It will be noted that in an initial as opposed to an inuse closedposition that the flat surfaces 48 and 50 fit heated container ofhighly-volatile fluid, cannot move the disc 42 without sufficientpressures being developed to remove the spout member 28 from the closurebody 12. Such pressures are normally considerably higher than thosenecessary to rupture the annular diaphragm 46.

As a result of this feature that dispensing closure is capable ofproviding a completely-fluid-tight seal prior to its being used. Such aseal is extremely effective even when the utilization might causepressures which would rupture other similar seals or which might cause abreakdown of the seal between two moving parts in contact with oneanother.

I claim:

I. In a dispensing closure having a closure body, said body including adispensing opening leading from one side to the other side of said body,and said closure having a spout rotatably mounted on said body, saidspout including a base overlying said opening and a passage extendingfrom said base through said spout, said spout being capable of beingrotated from an initial closed position in which said passage isunaligned with said opening to an open position in which said passage isaligned with said opening, where the improvement comprises:

a disc located within said opening when said spout is in said initialclosed position, saiddisc being located adjacent to said spout;

said base of said spout including means for engaging said disc duringrotation of said spout from said initial closed position to said openposition so as' to force said disc from its position within saiddispensing opening away-from said spout through said opening into theinterior of said closure so as to remove saiddisc from within saidopening by pushing it through said opening so that thereafter fluid canflow through said dispensing opening and through said passage in saidspout when said spout is in said open position. 2. A dispensing closureas claimed in claim 1 includmg: l

said means for engaging is a cam on said base of said spout; flexible,resilient sealing ring means located on said projection located closurebody around said dispensing opening, said I sealing ring means .engagingsaid base of said spout so as to form a seal therewith when said spoutis in said open and said closed position;

said sealing ring means being spaced from said disc and being incapableof being contacted by said disc during the use of said closure;

a frangible annular membrane surrounding said disc and connecting saiddisc to the interior of said dispensing opening;

said membrane and said disc said sealing ring; g I

1 flat surfaces on said disc and on said base of said spout, said flatsurfaces on said disc and said base being entirely within 6 beinglocated opposite and adjacent to one another when said spout is in saidinitial closed position. 3. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim 1includmg:

said means for engaging is a cam projection located on said base of saidspout. 4. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim 1 includmg:

flat surfaces on said disc and on said base of said spout, said flatsurfaces on said disc and said base being located opposite and adjacentto one another when said spout is in said initial closed position. 5. Adispensing closure as claimed in claim 1 including: v

flexible, resilient sealing ring means located on said closure bodyaround said dispensing opening, said sealing ring means engaging saidbase of said spout so as to form a seal therewith when said spout is insaid open and said closed position; a frangible annular. membranesurrounding said plug and connecting said-plug to the interior of saiddispensing opening; said membrane and said said sealing ring. 6. Adispensing closure as claimed in claim 1,,includmg:

flexible, resilient sealing ring means located on said closure bodyaround said dispensing opening, said sealing ring means engaging saidbase of said spout so as to form a seal therewith when said spout is insaid open and said closed positions, said sealing ring means beingspaced from said disc plug being entirely within and being incapable ofbeing contacted by said disc during the use of said closure. 7 7. Adispensing closure as claimed in claim.6 including:

a frangible annular membrane surrounding said disc and connecting saiddisc to the interior of said dispensing opening.

8. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim 7 including:

flat surfaces on said disc and on said base of said spout, said flatsurfaces on said disc and said base being located opposite .and adjacentto one'another whensaid spoutis in said initial closed position. 9. Adispensing closure as claimed in claim lincluding: a frangible annularmembrane surrounding said disc and connecting said disc to the interiorof said dis- I pensing opening. 10. A dispensing closure as claimed inclaim 9 including:

spout, said flat surfaces on said disc and said base being locatedopposite .and adjacent to another on said base of said spout.

flat surfaces on said disc and on said base of said

1. In a dispensing closure having a closure body, said body including adispensing opening leading from one side to the other side of said body,and said closure having a spout rotatably mounted on said body, saidspout including a base overlying said opening and a passage extendingfrom said base through said spout, said spout being capable of beingrotated from an initial closed position in which said passage isunaligned with said opening to an open position in which said passage isaligned with said opening, where the improvement comprises: a disclocated within said opening when said spout is in said initial closedposition, said disc being located adjacent to said spout; said base ofsaid spout including means for engaging said disc during rotation ofsaid spout from said initial closed position to said open position so asto force said disc from its position within said dispensing openingaway-from said spout through said opening into the interior of saidclosure so as to remove said disc from within said opening by pushing itthrough said opening so that thereafter fluid can flow through saiddispensing opening and through said passage in said spout when saidspout is in said open position.
 2. A dispensing closure as claimed inclaim 1 including: said means for engaging is a cam projection locatedon said base of said spout; flexible, resilient sealing ring meanslocated on said closure body around said dispensing opening, saidsealing ring means engaging said base of said spout so as to form a sealtherewith when said spout is in said open and said closed position; saidsealing ring means being spaced from said disc and being incapable ofbeing contacted by said disc during the use of said closure; a frangibleannular membrane surrounding said disc and connecting said disc to theinterior of said dispensing opening; said membrane and said disc beingentirely within said sealing ring; flat surfaces on said disc and onsaid base of said spout, said flat surfaces on said disc and said basebeing located opposite and adjacent to one another when said spout is insaid initial closed position.
 3. A dispensing closure as claimed inclaim 1 including: said means for engaging is a cam projection locatedon said base of said spout.
 4. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim1 including: flat surfaces on said disc and on said base of said spout,said flat surfaces on said disc and said base being located opposite andadjacent to one another when said spout is in said initial closedposition.
 5. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim 1 including:flexible, resilient sealing ring means located on said closure bodyaround said dispensing opening, said sealing ring means engaging saidbase of said spout so as to form a seal therewith when said spout is insaid open and said closed position; a frangible annular membranesurrounding said plug and connecting said plug to the interior of saiddispensing opening; said membrane and said plug being entirely withinsaid sealing ring.
 6. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim 1,including: flexible, resilient sealing ring means located on saidclosure body around said dispensing opening, said sealing ring meansengaging said base of said spout so as to form a seal therewith whensaid spout is in said open and said closed positions, said sealing ringmeans being spaced from said disc and being incapable of being contactedby said disc during the use of said closure.
 7. A dispensing closure asclaimed in claim 6 including: a frangible annular membrane surroundingsaid disc and connecting said disc to the interior of said dispensingopening.
 8. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim 7 including: flatsurfaces on said disc and on said base of said spout, said flat surfaceson said disc and said base being located opposite and adjacent to oneanother when said spout is in said initial closed position.
 9. Adispensing closure as claimed in claim 1 including: a frangible annularmembrane surrounding said disc and connecting said disc to the interiorof said dispensing opening.
 10. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim9 including: flat surfaces on said disc and on said base of said spout,said flat surfaces on said disc and said base being located opposite andadjacent to another when said spout is in said initial closed position.11. A dispensing closure as claimed in claim 10 including: said meansfor engaging is a cam projection located on said base of said spout.